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GEOS Tries to Spin Bad Press

Back in September, The Japan Times interviewed Susumu Ikegami, a spokesman for Geos, and asked him about the eikaiwa market. To no surprise, he said business was down but for some reason could not explain why.

Four months later, this article, and the rumours swirling about the health of the company, have apparently prompted Geos to take action so to speak. What better forum to set the record straight than a puff piece in the ELT Gazette? A reader informs me that Geos "fights back" in the January issue in an article titled "GEOS rebuts crisis claims" (requires free registration to read the article).

Here's a sample of the spin that will leave you dizzy:

Geos Teaching Ltd’s human resources director Chad Lafferty, based in Japan, said, ‘Opening and closing locations is a normal part of business… The global recession has certainly impacted the way we do business, but it would be wrong to say that any closures or restructuring of the company are directly related to the recession.’

[...]

The push for better sales results is alleged to have blurred the line between sales and teaching. One former teacher, who asked not to be named, felt ‘let down by management’ and identified ‘sales skills required by teachers’ as one reason why Geos was not ‘a school a teacher could stay in for long’.

In response, Mr Lafferty stated that ‘all employees are told at the time of being hired that sales is a part of the job. They are also told that they should never make a recommendation that isn’t in the student’s best interest.’ He added, ‘The sales pressure on teachers hasn’t really increased or decreased in the past few years.’

One former Geos teacher claimed that her manager asked her to call students six months before course completion to get them to renew their contracts, and that when the company found out she was leaving, she was asked to tell students that their next teacher would be ‘good’ and to encourage them to stay.

Lafferty responded that he was ‘not aware of any teacher who has phoned a student to try and get them to renew their contracts. In fact, I’d be very strongly opposed to the idea.’ Lafferty added, ‘There is no directive from Geos saying, “You must tell your students the new teacher will be good.”’

I don't know how this quells any rumours about the health of the company or portrays Geos in a favorable manner. Lafferty didn't flat out lie in the interview, but he didn't tell the complete truth, either.

It's true that Geos tells its teachers that sales is part of the job, but he fails to say that it is a significant part of the job. It's the part of the job that reduces managers to tears and causes them to quit when they can't meet their sales targets. It is the source of angry faxes demanding that schools sell more and sign up or renew students. It's the reason why students avoid making eye contact with managers because they know if the manager nabs them, talk will inevitably be about buying more lessons.

The "there is no directive that says you must tell your students the new teacher will be good" are the words of a drone. "Yes sir! No, sir! Three bags full sir! Sell! Sell! Sell for the company!" Poor Chad Lafferty. He's sold his soul to Geos.

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Comments

Should have been GEOS Tries (and fails) to Spin Bad Press. What do they take people for? Idiots? I had forgotten just how stupid Eikaiwa management can be.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER, NATIONALITY: AMERICAN
CHAD LAFFERTY

Living and working in Japan has been a truly fantastic experience for me. I8I8'm now in my 5th year, and it just keeps getting better. I started off as a teacher in Azamino school in Kanagawa prefecture, about 20 minutes away from the bright lights of Shibuya (of Lost in Translation fame). I taught everyone from little kids to adults to retirees and made some life-long friends in the process.

After my first year working with GEOS I was asked to transfer to Yokohama school, which is the largest GEOS in Japan. It was a really great experience for me, and allowed me to improve and advance my teaching skills while operating on a much larger stage. During this time I participated in Big Jump, a program that improves your teaching and overall business awareness within the company. As a direct result of my participation I was given an interview to become a Sub Teacher, a job which I did for about 6 months, and subsequently was promoted to HR Manager. I8I8've now been working in this position for about a year and a half. Working with teachers, managers, and students makes every day interesting and exciting.

Coming to Japan was definitely one of the best decisions I8I8've ever made%E2%80%A6 it8I8's a amazing country that8I8's both modern and ancient, fashionable yet traditional, with an endless variety of places to explore.
Chad Lafferty

EDITORIAL NOTE: Odd text encountered above may simply be a reflection of brain meltdown

Interesting blog post, thanks Shawn.

I can remember being told to phone students within a few weeks of arriving in Japan with GEOS. The first time I called and, being unable to speak any Japanese at that point, said "Hello, is (so and so) there?" Then I got some response in Japanese that I couldn't understand but probably went something like "Who the fuck is this and why aren't you speaking Japanese?". The I tried the old "speak English slowly" approach and that got me nowhere and after a minute or so I just gave up and told the manager "This is ridiculous, I'm not making any more of these phone calls.", and in fairness she never asked me to again.

It is, as you say, the fact that sales is not just "a" part of the job but "the main" part of the job which GEOS doesn't tell you about.

The company just can't be doing good - regardless of how they want to spin the closures. Their whole business model - which is based on charging exorbitantly high prices for a product that has no real substantive value - requires a market full of people with loads of disposable income to survive. That just doesn't exist in Japan anymore.

Since it is hiring season can a thread be made about THE GREEDY DISPATCH COMPANIES and the way they are driving salaries down more and more each year,

Everyone knows about GEOS but I think its time that the dipatch companies got a bit of exposure as they will be the main employment source once the eikawas all go bust.

There are plenty of threads on dispatch angencies and ALT jobs.

Lafferty responded that he was ‘not aware of any teacher who has phoned a student to try and get them to renew their contracts. In fact, I’d be very strongly opposed to the idea.’ Lafferty added, ‘There is no directive from Geos saying, “You must tell your students the new teacher will be good.”’

Nice try Chad Lafferty, you damn well know there is a HUGE gap between what corprate office says and what the school manager says. The school manager takes precedence over every aspect of the school. The school manager is ultimately responsible for the school rent, salaries, and office expenses. If the school manager wants the teacher to call students and beg the students to renew their contracts, kiss student ass, pressure students to buy old books, hand out moldy tissue, put up ugly posters at the station...then thats what the teacher will have to do....regardless of what Chad says, or the area manager says, or anybody at corprate says.

Yes, the recession is having a major impact on school closures and with students not renewing......with GEOS hooked on using outdated textbooks from 1999 (to cut costs, but charge high prices) and giving teachers very little resources or training on how to use these shitty textbooks just compounds the problems. GEOS is 100% focused on making money and Not creating value for their customers.

The bottom line is the students dont feel like they are getting a fair value for their money and realizing they are being ripped-off and choosing not to spend their money at GEOS. I have been to alot of GEOS schools and they most of them are filthy, have dirty carpet, moldy wallpaper, have a depressing and dark atmosphere due to the fact that GEOS is broke and has been for a long time and cannot afford to clean these schools up. The J-staff are totally unmotivated, clueless and the teachers are secretly looking for new work and dont give a damn.....just the kind of eikaiwa students do NOT like. GEOS is rotten to the core.

I used to work for GEOs in Northern Japan and let's just say it is a completely different picture than most of what I hear about from Tokyo.
He doesn't address the issues that are facing smaller schools. I know of so many schools with no managers, and a couple with only one foreign teacher. The pressure to make sales is immense because they don't take into account the size of the school and the population that makes up the student body.
It is not a company which is friendly to staff or it's customers.

Yet another round of Head Office restructuring - we're currently hitting about 1 per month. Head Office staff who are leaving/left are not being replaced.
A deep culture of distrust is being perpetuated... This taken from an email this week.

We are going to be randomly sending JET and NET subs out to check your school's KIHON DOSA and teacher's paperwork from next week.

Cheapening of school supplies - daily teaching records reduced from one per A4 page to 2 per A4 page, envelopes getting thinner and cheaper, school brochures also.

Head Office staff now seem to have Skype contacts rather than direct lines - cutting back on the telephone services?

All in all, it doesn't give the best impression of the company's position.

The fact that an article about the poor state of GEOS' finances made the front page of the ELT Gazette is a pretty big deal, but I wouldn't read too much into H/O staff "checking kihindosa". This happens every big sales season (Jan/April/Sept) and usually means that there are a few subs and trainers who don't have many lessons to cover and so get given pointless busy work like this to do. They just want to scare the managers into making sure the schools are cleaned up for all the visitors they won't be getting. And the last two companies that I've worked for have both used Skype rather than a landline for internal calls. It's free for god's sake!

I have had my turn working at several of the biggest chain Eikaiwa schools and some smaller ones too. Perhaps this is news to Shawn and all the others who step into the position fresh off the plane and out of college but, YES, as an employee of such a school, YOU do have a direct impact to the success of the school and its future. This is NOT a charity. It is a business. Each and every school I have worked for made it very clear from day one, that the schools rely heavily on teachers to be mindful of the business aspect and to do all they can to keep current students happy and gather new students. I do not see any lies or mis-truths in the ELT article.

I DO find in odd that a manager would ask a non-Japanese speaking person to make a sales call to the home of a student. That alone speaks more about GEOS' future than any of the bilge from commenters here.

Its quite simple to solve the lack of sales.Stop hiring ugly people!There should be a long list of criteria dealing specifically with physical features or lack thereof. Detracting factors might be too much space between the eyes, noticeable facial tics or fangs.
In the branch i worked at around 60% of staff were officially ugly with one particular teacher having a limp which pointed his face in a direction that unnerved students.
So get your act together managers!

An anonymous poster from up thread-

"...Nice try Chad Lafferty, you damn well know there is a HUGE gap between what corprate office says and what the school manager says...."

Seriously what do you expect　the guy to do? Criticize the business practices of his company in public?

If there IS a gap between what the head office claims and what is happening at ground-level, why would the guy -in charge of recruiting presumably- announce that to possible candidates?
Does that happen in ANY company in the world ?

affect your face's direction?

just curious.

To be fair to the guy he probably came over with the same delusions about Japan as the rest of us and is probably now saddled with a wife, kid, school fees and a mortgage to pay for, in an economic climate that means he has very little chance of getting another job that pays as well as the money he's gotten used to.

Can't say that I'd feel happy being the mouthpiece for a universally-hated eikaiwa to earn my daily crust, although if the alternative was working for a dispatch company or a kindergarten I'd probably hang in there a bit longer too.

I agree that something like what he came up with is to be expected. He made the best of a bad job.

However, people who say things like: 'Can't you get it, this is a business?' really haven't got it yet. It's a bit like someone telling thier sales guys to sell broken watches and saying 'don't worry that the watch doesn't work, it's how you act when you're selling it that makes all the difference'.

I agree 100% with the above comments, yes the guy is between a rock and a hard place but they should try putting a bit more quality into the whole thing. The students know if its crap or value at the end of the day and that might go against what a few peoples opinions of Japanese eikawa students,which are mostly generalisations anyway, just like we are doing with this Chad fellow.

The state of Geos is not his doing!!!!

On a related note, I have just heard that GEOS Melbourne is in the hands of trustees.

I know the guy and I think he's just doing his job. I worked for him for quite a while and I always thought he was as upfront and honest as he could be. I don't see this as being any different really. Probably just trying to make the best of a difficult situation.

If I were still working for him and he told me something, I'd believe him. Simple as. Call me a fool if you like, but he's never been dishonest with me so I have no reason to think that would change.

Chad will be fired next week....most likely Monday. Good Luck getting a job Chad. Dirt Bag.

How's Chad gonna get fired on his day off? He get caught stealing some boxes?

"they should try putting a bit more quality into the whole thing"

Yes, you're absolutely right. What GEOS (and every other school in Japan) should really do is sack all the wannabee unqualified genki-sensei bullshit artists who unlike any other developed country in the world are still allowed to run around calling themselves teachers and fly in all the highly qualified, experienced, TRAINED staff from across Australia who are now sadly out of a job. Maybe then when someone tells me they teach for GEOS in Japan I might be able to take them seriously.

Some of the comments directed towards Chad are uncalled for. He has a job to fill teaching posts and provide training on a shoestring budget. Working that close to The Big K(unt) must be soul destroying for anyone. Give the guy a break.

@quality control - absolutely right. GEOS (and the eikaiwa industry) is set up to ensure a fast teacher turnover. Kusunoki would always refer to those being fresh into the company as more motivated to push his shit product range (as presumably they didn't have the time to work out just how bad it is). The industry needs regulation. A BA and a CELTA should be the bare minimum. Flush out the likes of "I am another GEOS teacher" (check out the "damage control" blog entry) who believe that language learning is about the teacher banging on for an hour about the new pair of shoes he bought last weekend and hire all of the GEOS Australia team - they deserve to be taken care of...... but hang on a minute.... loads of pigs have just flown by my window.

Rest assured that no Australian teacher would go near Kusunoki other than for the purpose of revenge! I imagine most of us will be a little more canny about who we're employed by in future. Locally owned and operated schools (with our ex managers at the helm) are looking most appealing thanks. Sit back and watch us show GEOS how ESL should really work...

Yeah, its a great ideal to fly in all the `trained` Australian teachers to Japan replace the GEOS teachers there. I wouldnt give you aussies 3 days before you became bitter, resentful, angry, depressed, scared, and pissed off....you will find out that labor laws in Japan are like the 1950`s and these laws are NOT enforced at all. You will be ripped-off, tricked, lied too, be subjected to constant mental stress and threats, major contract violations...and there is NOTHING you can do about it!!!

Oh, wait did you say you that you would file a complaint with the government authorities and punish the company that screwed you over??? Wont work here. You will be fired or harrassed into leaving for filling a complaint with the labor standards board in Japan....the labor laws in Japan favor companies NOT workers, and NOTHING will ever happen to the company you file a complaint about.....it a losing battle.

You could file a lawsuit if you werent paid, but you can only get actual damages and NOT punitive damages, because there is NO punitive option here. BUT it will cost you between $3,000 to $5,000 to file a lawsuit, and if a company wants to, they can delay and delay until your visa runs out and you are forced to return home...you lose again. If you think you can get another job somewhere else while you are locked in a lawsuit with another company, your future employer will NOT hire you or your current employer will fire you and that is that. Japanese companies want workers who do NOT make waves or complain...and those who complain are NOT part of the team and they would make your life at work a living hell for it or just illegally fire you. Companies in Japan dont have a problem violating the laws here(as there is virtually no punishment for it) and they will even go so far to falsify documents against you to get rid of you...which is quite common.

Also, think about all the old-Nova students how filed a lawsuit in late 2007 to get their money back...they are still waiting for their day in court and it they might have to wait several years to get their case through the system.....if you filed a lawsuit in Japan, how long do you think it would take to get your case resolved?? Your visa would expire long before then.
Japan is NOT like Australia, you are NOT protected by the law here. Japan has laws, but the laws are often ignored in favor of the company. The Japanese have NO morales or ethics and foreigners are treated like trash in Japan...thats the Japanese way.

There used to be high quality teachers in Japan, but after they were screwed over and ripped off repeatedly over the years and they left for sunnier locations. English schools here are looking to cut corners and will gladly hire phillipinos who work for much less and work harder than westerners...if they can get away with it.

So, please come to Japan and experience working hell first hand....but you wont last long here. You are better off in Australia.

Unfortunately language schools rely on agents and marketing .and locally owned and operated schools are the ones getting squeezed the most at the moment. Bigger operators can negotiate better deals for their branches and can access more agents. I know of three single-location English schools in my local area in Oz that have have closed their doors in the last year alone. There are exceptions to this rule, and I wouldn't put it past Gary Maserow to be one of those exceptions. However, every time a big language school closes it's doors there are always ex-teachers going on about opening their own schools and 'running things properly'. Usually this is as far as they get after the cold hard reality of actually running a school sets in.

@12.17 and @13.35

Gee, you'd be brave to open up a new school in Australia at the moment. The GEOS collapse did not occur in a bubble; conditions are tough, and, thanks to a serious lack of confidence in the market following the GEOS debacle, it's about to get all the tougher.

Simple guide? About $500k to open something modest, then work on $250k losses in your first year. If you can't bankroll that, don't even think about it.

As yohoho said, there are just too many small operators who open for a year or two, stuggle for a bit then collapse. Best of luck to anyone who wants to give it a shot, but keep the harsh reality of it all in mind.

Don't sell BMWs for the price of a Toyota
or you will end up like many schools that fail.
Schools need to charge realistic fees so they can be in the
ESL business in Australia. Pay the staff have realistic commisions
and stop discounting to the point that it is impossible to suvive.

@1408

Great idea. Wish we'd all thought of that. I've just doubled my fees and halved my commissions. I'll let you know how that goes.

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